Performance and BenchmarksOur EliteBook 8740w came with the Intel Core i7-820QM quad-core processor. Like all the other Core-series processor options, it has a standard clock speed and a “turbo” clock speed. In this case, you get a standard 1.73GHz processor speed when you’re typing a Word document or browsing the Web, but the processor quickly jumps up to 3.06GHz when you run intense applications like Maya or Adobe Premiere.

For graphics, HP offers both Nvidia Quadro or ATI FirePro workstation video cards. We were impressed with the performance of the ATI FirePro M7820 graphics with 1GB of GDDR5 memory. Sure, you can buy a gaming notebook with better graphics performance for the same money, but a gaming notebook isn’t tested for 100 percent compatibility with 3D-rendering apps and CAD programs like the graphics in a mobile workstation.

The 320GB 7200 RPM hard drive in our review unit wasn’t the fastest we’ve seen, but it’s quick enough for most work and you can always upgrade to a high-performance SSD if you need the fastest storage available.